1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to the treatment of bio-oil. More specifically, the invention concerns processes and apparatuses for removing undesirable solid components from bio-oil.
2. Description of the Related Art
With its low cost and wide availability, biomass has increasingly been emphasized as an ideal feedstock in alternative fuel research. Consequently, many different conversion processes have been developed that use biomass as a feedstock to produce useful biofuels and/or specialty chemicals. Existing biomass conversion processes include, for example, combustion, gasification, slow pyrolysis, fast pyrolysis, liquefaction, and enzymatic conversion.
Many of the existing biomass conversion processes produce bio-oils containing small residual solid particles. Such bio-oils may require filtration in order to remove these residual solid particles. Since the residual solids often contain fine particles of less than 30 microns in size, fine-scale filters are required. Most filters capable of removing residual solids from bio-oil are rapidly clogged by gelatinous-type solids found in bio-oil. This rapid clogging can cause residual solids filtration methods to be expensive and challenging to scale up.
Accordingly, there is a need for an improved and “green” process and system for removing residual solids from bio-oil.